| Am I doing too much? |
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OWF
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 Jul 2006 02:13 am |
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I have been working out all my life-or at least since I was about 12 yrs old. Cheerleading, gymnastics, dancing, aerobics, step, kickboxing, walking, jogging. Now, over the last 5 or 6 years I have put on weight....fat. I weighed 130 comfortably, and now I am 144. I am not happy so I have been increasing my intensity and duration of workouts, but people in my life are being very mean...saying I am doing "too much" This is my question..how does anyone else know if I am doing "too much" What if someone told Lance Armstrong he was doing "too much" ? I mean, really. I am not kidding. I am finally really motivated to get back in the shape I was before I was married and fatter....and my husband is very supportive but others such as "best friends" and relatives like to tear down my motivation. WHY? Does anyone know WHY? Is it because they are genuinely concerned for my health or is it jealousy and insecurity because THEY can't do as much as me, because they dont workout.
Who knows! Who even cares! But, I feel good, I am sore alot, I do body attack and/or body pump 4 times a week, I take one hour private pilates sessions 2-3 times a week and I walk for about 2-3 hours each time about 5 days per week. I do feel sore alot, but it doesn't HURT. And I know I don't do enough weights to tear my muscles, cause I dont want to build...I am just trying to tone and burn fat, so I am not doing heavy lifting, just mostly resistance training and cardio.
When is it "Too Much" I don't want to stop or slow down. I will take one day a week to rest completely, isn't that enough?
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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| Posts: | 4180 |
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Posted: 15 Jul 2006 06:56 am |
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It is certainly possible to do too much. Weight bearing exercise tears your muscles apart and they need time to recover. (As they do they grow.)
Other exercise is stressful on your body. But if it's not too much, you recover AND improve.
I think the answer is to listen to your body. I am NOT qualified to give advice about this, but in my personal experience every time I overdid it my body told me. I stopped improving and/or started hurting.
Of course we can be very compulsive about our exercise, so it's hard for us to listen to our bodies. But I believe they will tell us... we just have to listen and pull back when they "tell us" to.
And of course you can abuse your body by losing too much weight from exercise, or compensating for overeating with exercise which is a form of bulimia.
Just my thoughts,
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 16 Jul 2006 08:32 pm |
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I'm also not qualified but it doesn't sound like too much. I know that doing Body Pump on successive days isn't ideal (despite it being a high reps lower weights toning workout). Usually I just do it Tue/Thu/Sat, but sometimes I do it more frequently and it makes a negative difference (just as skipping it for a whole week makes a difference).
Recently I became a bit 'weak' and I found all sorts of theories being thrown around:
- are you dehydrated?
- are you getting enough calories?
- are you gettnig enough carbs? (glycogen feeds muscles)
- are you getting enough fat? (sometimes my diet is very low fat in nature)
- are you over-training? (one of my instructors suggested I took a week's break)
(current guess is that I have an iron defficiency, so I'm taking some tablets as a 2-month experiment orchestrated by my Dr.)
One of my fitness instructors trains every day of the week. I often train 6 or 7 times a week. I don't get sore - not that I can recall, anyhow (well nothing that carries on. Obviously lunges/squats/chest-presses/etc. aren't actually a pleasure while you're doing them :)).
If you posted this, I may have missed it, but I recall that we suggested you get a body fat % reading, to put your weight into perspective. If you haven't got one yet, here is a good one: set yourself a desirable fat % range before you get measured.
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OWF
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 16 Jul 2006 11:37 pm |
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Thanks Guys! I appreciate your help. I am away at an intensive in Manhattan for the next 2 weeks so working out my normal routine with classes is impossible, I think I will just either take a much needed break or go walking/running in Central Park on nights when classes are over. At least it will be something!
I am going to get a bodyfat% test taken. I think I would like to be around 19% bodyfat. Right now, I would guess I am at 27% or so? We'll see. Thanks again!
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Coopr
Member
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Posted: 17 Jul 2006 02:22 pm |
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| As Nir said, now would be a very good time to take a look at your diet and ensure you are getting the proper amounts of calories. I think exorcise is only a portion of weight control/loss in the end it will all come back to nutrition. Last edited on 17 Jul 2006 02:26 pm by Coopr
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